Family Connections
by bhut
Summary: After getting shot in the back and falling overboard, Donnie Gill or Blizzard arrives in Canada, where he acquires new family members. And allies.
1. Chapter 1

**Family connections (part 1)**

_Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to their respective owners._

_Note: this story contains minor spoilers for the official series._

Donnie Gill was adrift without a paddle.

Well, actually, he was adrift without a boat either. Instead of a vessel, with paddles and/or a sail, Donnie Gill was drifting across the sea in a block of ice, which he had generated personally, after either S.H.I.E.L.D. or Hydra had shot him in the back and sent him overboard.

Despite this state of affairs, Donnie Gill was alive.

And he was also angry.

When he was first contacted by Ian Quinn, Donnie did not really care about S.H.I.E.L.D., or Hydra, or anything else – he just wanted to make some money, impress Quinn with his talents, and, generally speaking, 'to be made' – to be somebody important, that is. Period. Anything else was just redundant.

But then... things went apart .And it wasn't even the arrival of Ian Fitz and Jemma Simmons – full-fledged agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – that caused it; the whole damn situation just fell apart, when Donnie's (well, not _just_ Donnie's) machine misfired – and Donnie suddenly acquired powers over ice and snow, and suddenly found himself on top (if not _on top_) of everyone's list – or at least the list of S.H.I.E.L.D. And Hydra.

And one of them shot him in the back.

And that was annoying. No, 'annoying' was an understatement – Donnie Gill was angry.

Well, at this moment he was also in a block of ice, drifting in the watery depths, not quite alive, not quite dead, but certainly aware of his surroundings, such as they were.

And as such, they were empty. Oh sure, there was an occasional shark or some other deep-water fish, a pod of dolphins or a smaller family group of big whales, but otherwise? Empty.

On occasion Donnie was aware of something moving overhead, back in a warmer, more sunlit world – and not just a proper boat or some other vessel, but a sea bird – a gull, a tern, or perhaps even something bigger – flying and skimming over the top of the sea as well.

A few times Donnie – who was not a big savant of wildlife, BTW – thought that there had been something off about the sea birds – they were just too big, their heads too rounded – to be normal. But, since they were up there, and he was down in the watery depths instead, he did not care. He was too busy staying alive – sort of – amidst all this ice and water, and as he did, he fell himself steadily growing stronger, more powerful, and more cold – and the last bit was perhaps the most confusing to him; perhaps because it fell so natural.

And then Donnie Gill found himself abruptly on dry land – the deep-water currents had cast him ashore at last. With a determined snarl, he burst from his ice container, and looked around.

Nothing. No one, but some rocky shores and more sea birds flying overhead.

"Well, at least there's vegetation," muttered Donnie, and went forth to make himself a fire.

_TBC_


	2. Chapter 2

**Family connections (part 2)**

_Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to their respective owners._

_Note: this story contains minor spoilers for the official series._

Donnie Gill was not really an outdoorsman; in fact, part of his plan of becoming rich was based on the concept that once he became rich, he would never go outdoors and 'rough it', as it was expected from S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, including their scientists (such as Donnie was intended to become).

However, despite this lack of interest on his part, Donnie Gill _did_ receive some outdoors training, and that included making a fire without any matches or lighter fluid. He didn't really feel the need for making a fire – after several weeks or months stuck in ice, he was quite used to being cold – but he wanted to dry his clothing, just in case, and so, using his icy powers, he created an impromptu magnifying glass out of ice, and set some of the brush and scrub that grew nearby afire (after ripping them out of the ground, of course, and ensuring that they were more dead than green – he wanted fire, not smoke: for the moment, he wanted to avoid company).

After a while, the fire began to burn in earnest. True, it did produce smoke, but it also produced some heat – dry heat. Donnie Gill did not really feel particularly cold or warm at this point, but he did want to dry out his clothing, maybe even warm it up, and so he just sat there, enjoying the spectacle of a flickering flame, when a voice startled him:

"...And just what do you think you're doing?"

Donnie Gill looked around. A girl of about his age or younger was looking at him in a rather indignant way; dressed in some impractical white clothing, she really did not appear to be belonging on these rather forbidding shores – and yet somehow she did.

"I am making a fire," Donnie shot back his reply. "Why do you care?" He bunched his fists, almost, but not quite ready for a fight.

"This is the land of Boreas, fires aren't welcome here, and neither are people," the girl growled.

"Boreas...what, is this Russia?" Donnie blinked.

"No – Canada."

"Right. In this case, go away, scram, and bother someone else," Donnie snapped his fingers. "I've had just about enough of people lately – and I've been stuck in a block of ice for a while-"

"Of course you were, little man," the girl smiled back – rather nastily. "Well, let's then repeat this experience!"

A rogue gust of wind extinguished Donnie's hard-made flame.

"What the-?" the young man looked up from his now-dead fire, just to see his interlocutrix make some sort of a gesture – and he got hammered right in the face by a mass of ice.

For a moment, Donnie panicked as ice entombed him once more – and then he realized that this was literally the same experience as it was back when he was encased in ice and was adrift at sea – and just like before, the ice responded to him, replied to him, obeyed him. And so Donnie twitched – and the ice fell apart in several thick, but rotten and hollow, chunks.

The smirk on the girl's face vanished, replaced by genuine astonishment. "What? How?" she sputtered. "Who are you?"

"I could ask you the same questions – why did you do this? How did you do this?" Donnie shot back, before pausing in thought. "Hm, I'm guessing that these aren't the same questions after all."

"I don't answer to a mortal-"

Donnie gestured, and the ice that failed the hold him, flew through the air and pinned the girl to a cliff.

"Wrong answer," he growled. "Want to try again?"

The girl gestured, and masses of cold air, snow and hail began to pummel Donnie, trying to drive him back into the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean. He twitched, reached out with his own powers, and stood firm – before beginning, one slow step after another, to walk forwards towards his opponent, who was trying to unpin her clothes and herself from the icy missiles.

"I'm Khione," she muttered even as she did this. "I am a goddess of snow of the Greeks! I deserve respect-!"

"Really?" Donnie muttered as he finally reached her and grabbing her by one arm shook her upwards none-too-gently. "The Greeks actually knew about snow?"

"Yes!" his interlocutrix snapped in reply as she made a gesture – and the snowy weather stopped. "Wait. I did not mean to do this-"

"Really? Well, I didn't mean to punch you straight in the face, but you have annoyed me just enough to do this," Donnie snarled as he drew his hand backwards in order to do just that.

"What? No, you can't do that!" The girl – Khione – cried and flew skywards on a pair of snowy-white wings that had suddenly sprouted from her back. "I'm a goddess!"

"Of course you are," Donnie muttered, as he was dragged along, skyward, for the ride. Being suspended in midair was not a fun experience for him, and so he concentrated and created something of a platform upon which to stand in mid-air. Judging by Khione's facial expression, this was not something that she had seen before either. "Now where were we?"

"I believe, _children_, that you were about to do something that you would _both_ regret," spoke yet another voice.

Both Donnie and Khione whirled around and stared at the newcomer.

"Dad?" Khione whispered.

Donnie said nothing.

_TBC_


	3. Chapter 3

**Family connections (part 3)**

_Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to their respective owners._

_Note: this story contains minor spoilers for the official series._

Donnie gave the other man a calculating glance. "And who are you, sir?" he asked in a grudgingly respectful tone of voice.

"Why, I am Boreas, the titan-god of the north wind," the new arrival replied calmly. "And I am your father, just as I am the father of Zetes and Kalaides, of Khione here, and of Kleopatra."

"I must've missed the wing gene," Donnie said sarcastically, but his heart was not in it – he really _did not_ know his father, so he just could not really deny it, either.

"Yes, you have," Boreas agreed, placidly, but Donnie did not really buy this placidity. "You have, however, inherited my intelligence, unlike my other children, again – but then again, I have few children, and even fewer of them are illegitimate."

"Lucky me," Donnie muttered under his breath, but the other man heard him all the same.

"Yes you are," he replied in a sharper tone of voice than before, and Donnie frowned in thought: for a moment Boreas' body had flickered, and in his place the younger man saw a massive great snowstorm, one that was much more powerful than his own blizzard. "You were betrayed and arrested, shot at and drowned, and throughout it all you have survived. If you were fully human you would've died time and again by now."

"And if I was fully god?" Donnie just had to ask.

"Ah, that is the hundred-dollar question," Boreas agreed, placidly. "Tell me, son, do you want to be a god?"

It was Donnie's turn to think, and to think hard. "No," he admitted reluctantly. "It sounds very promising, but I would rather not – not yet. First I have to have my revenge against Simmons and Fitz of S.H.I.E.L.D., and then we will see."

"Revenge? Hah! I am a goddess and yet I still was unable to have my revenge against Leo Valdez, and he's just a demigod, just like _you_!" Khione spoke-up suddenly.

Donnie gave her a look, reminding her that until Boreas made his appearance, Donnie was clearly gaining the upper hand in their tussle. Boreas too gave his daughter a look, and it was no better than Donnie's own, and even worse. Under their gazes Khione blanched slightly and fell silent.

"S.H.I.E.L.D., you say?" Boreas grew thoughtful. "I know of it. The wind has many ears, it hears all. Rocks whisper to springs, springs – to sands, sands – to us, and so we have learned of this S.H.I.E.L.D., as do the other subjects of Aeolus. I, for one, do not like this S.H.I.E.L.D. and approve of your doings. So, young man, you have my paternal blessing – go forth and seek your revenge!" He gestured and a cold white lightning split the heavens and earth all the way down to the sea. "Take Khione with you," Boreas added as an afterthought.

Donnie gave his newly found half sister a skeptical look. "What do I need her for?" was on his lips to ask, when he noticed a look of genuine hurt on Khione's face. It was rather well concealed, but not that well to fool anyone who had been to an S.H.I.E.L.D. academy, even a relative failure such as Donnie was – and so Donnie never asked his question, but relented instead:

"Fine," he said instead. "Anything else?"

"Just seek out a man named Grant Ward. The winds tell me that he can help you find your inner stability," Boreas replied. "Farewell for now, children!" And he was gone, vanished in the winds.

Donnie and Khione shared a look of mutual scepticism and mistrust.

"This is going to be fun," Khione muttered sarcastically. "Do you even know where your enemies are?"

"Maybe," Donnie said with a slight smile. His new travelling companion aside, life was really looking up for him at last.

_End_


End file.
